Marathon Fans Track Local Kevin Hart, Not Comedian

A South Florida man with the same name as a famous comedian had a lot more followers than he anticipated when he ran the New York Marathon. NBC 6's Michael Spears reports.

(Published Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017)

A South Florida man who shares a name with a famous celebrity got plenty of attention at last weekend's New York Marathon.

Hollywood actor Kevin Hart ran the New York City Marathon this past weekend at the same time Kevin Hart of Hollywood, Florida, ran the race, but not everyone realized the difference.

The South Florida Hart ran the marathon on his 58th birthday and had quite an audience. In fact, according to New York Road Runners, he had the biggest audience, with 23,000 people following his progress on the marathon's app.

"It's not easy to run a marathon and that's why I think it's funny that people were tracking me thinking it was him," Hart told NBC 6. "I was just cracking up. I couldn't believe it."

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The mix-up was later cleared up on Twitter but people still followed along. Hart, who finished in five hours and five minutes, said he never ran into the other Hart, who was done in four hours and five minutes.

"Great race, great city, great time and then to have all this happen after just been really funny," he said.

Marathon officials say the comedian Hart was the sixth most followed runner, with only about a third of the local Hart's followers.